title: Overexpression of Arachis hypogaea NAC3 in tobacco enhances dehydration and drought tolerance by increasing superoxide scavenging.
abstract: Drought stress can severely affect plant growth and substantially diminish crop yields. We previously isolated Arachis hypogaea NAC3 (AhNAC3), a dehydration-induced NAM/ATAF/CUC (NAC) gene from peanut. In this study, to examine the role of AhNAC3 in stress tolerance, we constructed transgenic tobacco lines overexpressing AhNAC3. The transgenic plants showed hyper-resistance to dehydration and drought stresses and accumulated more proline and less superoxide anion (O2(-)) than wild type under dehydration and drought conditions. Moreover, the transgenic plants showed upregulation of four functional genes, superoxide dismutase (SOD), pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase (P5SC), late embryogenic abundant proteins (LEA), and early response to drought 10 (ERD10C). Protein localization and transactivation analysis suggested that AhNAC3 activates its speciﬁc targets in the nucleus. These results suggest that AhNAC3 is a dehydration-induced transcription factor that improves water stress tolerance by increasing superoxide scavenging and promoting the accumulation of various protective molecules.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Analysis and Genetic Improvement Center, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Science, Guangzhou 510650, China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Shuai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jiali
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Biyu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiaoyun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Youchen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D010367:Arachis / Q000235:genetics*; D002467:Cell Nucleus; D003681:Dehydration / Q000235:genetics; D055864:Droughts; D015870:Gene Expression; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D011392:Proline / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000235:genetics; D013481:Superoxides / Q000378:metabolism*; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015854:Up-Regulation; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D014867:Water; D013481:Superoxides; D011392:Proline
keywords: Arachis hypogaea; Dehydration; Drought; NAC transcription factor; Superoxide anion